Cabinet condemns "silence" on troop redeployment

The cabinet in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has condemned the international community's "silence" on the redeployment of Ugandan troops in northeastern DRC, Congolese state television reported at the weekend.

The redeployment, the cabinet said, was in violation of the 1999 Lusaka Accord, and it therefore called on the United Nations and the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) to "force Uganda to withdraw".

Briefing the cabinet separately, the minister of security, law and order, that of the presidency, and the delegate minister for national defence, said Uganda had stationed over five extra battalions at Aru, Mahagi and Ariwara - all towns in northeastern DRC.

"The government strongly condemns this renewed and serious violation of the Lusaka Accord by Uganda, and deplores the silence of the international community and the UN Observer Mission in Congo," the cabinet said.

"The government calls on the UN and OAU to take urgent measures to finally force Uganda to respect the commitments made within the framework of the Lusaka Accord, which compels it, as well as Rwanda and Burundi, to withdraw their armed forces from the Congolese territory," it added.

Recently, Ugandan officials said that although there was violence in most parts of northeastern DRC, Uganda's official position adopted after the 7 December meeting between rival rebel factions was that the Uganda People's Defence Forces would not militarily intervene in any dispute among the Congolese rebels unless there was a genuine humanitarian crisis.

The meeting, which was chaired by Lt-Gen David Tinyefuza, a senior Ugandan presidential adviser on the DRC, concluded that the Rassemblement congolais pour la democratie-Kisangani (RCD-K) had split into two factions - one loyal to Mbusa Nyamwisi, and the other to Ernest Wamba dia Wamba. The two factions agreed to work together to end their leadership wrangle, which has lasted about three years.

However, because of fears of escalating violence in the region, Uganda confirmed on 17 January, that it had redeployed troops in Aru, Mahagi and Ariwara.

These areas are not only threatened by the upsurge in fighting between the RCD-K forces and the Mouvement de liberation du Congo (MLC) led by Jean-Pierre Bemba but are also at the heart of an ethnic feud between the Lendu, Hema and Ngiti, in which thousands of members of the three tribes have been systematically clubbing and hacking one another to death in recent years.